There is an inherent problem with trying to write about any art. The idea of translating one kind of sensory experience into words is a daunting task. The problem is twofold. No two people see the same world in general or the same object specifically, and our understanding of any word is equally ethereal. For example, I have been diagnosed as color deficient. It affects the way I see red and green and by extension purples, browns, oranges etc. I have been tested and told I physiologically don’t see the world in a normal way. Yet I see something, as does the person viewing what I’ve made. Further, color is only one aspect and the totality of each of our minds and experiences muddy the water even further. We overlap each other and try to communicate. There is something happening on the edge of intent that is ephemeral and subjective. Making something is one way to bridge the divide that separates each of us.

So what can be said? What I like about the visual arts are their immediacy and how little they ask of their audience. You can stare at a painting all day, or pass it by without noticing its existence. I try to make things that I want to look at for a long time. Hopefully in doing so there is an additional benefit of communicating, if only for a short time, directly with another person through vision. It is that hidden variable that I am looking for, and trying to put into whatever I am making. The visual arts have the added advantage of being accessible to all ages, transcending as well as defining cultures and languages, and they can continue to communicate long after those who made the works are gone.

I think words can be better used to talk about my process rather than the final work, which you either want to look at or you don’t. People can change their minds, but it is difficult to explain to someone why they should want to look at something they dislike. For the most part I work from the raw materials towards the idea. In New York there was a magical amount of usable trash. There were doors, stretchers, metal, marble blocks, records, wood, and everything everywhere, and I would take it home. This said, I try not to make trash art. I want to transform the raw materials into something that is precious and has meaning. As a by-product I save money and all of these things were kept out of landfills and given a new life. I find myself surrounded by the materials I always take in, and I work. Every object has its limits and potential. The grain in the wood might define where a painting or sculpture ends up. I usually feel like I am actualizing the inevitable. I like to jump around from piece to piece. There is always something to do depending on my mood. If I don’t feel like painting I’ll build stretchers or sand a sculpture. Over time I finish projects while starting new ones and keep moving on.

All that said. The work is what it is. Over the years I have struggled with the idea of art as a thing to sell. I have been blessed that people have exchanged their labor for mine. We live in a time with an overabundance of talent in all the arts. While there is a lot of great work being made, I think there is also a push to find your one style and push everything though that. I can understand the multitude of reasons for this. Other artists might be more disciplined than I am or it might just be how they work and think. In the blue chip Chelsea galleries and auction houses art becomes an easily recognizable commodity to invest in like playing the stock market or buying gold. Whether the work is good or bad begins to matter less when at the highest level certain work is accepted into the canon and become a commodity. So what to do with where I and the majority of artists worldwide stand? For now, there is also a freedom in being on the edge of the system. There are no constraints and no expectations. Everything I make is a journey to find the joy and peace that comes with making something tangible.

My website is a public space to show what I have done and what I am doing. There is a mixture of old works I have sold, work that is for sale, and works in process. I don’t like editing. I have been surprised over the years at the vast array of works that people respond to. People have told me that my paintings are great but my sculpture is lacking, and I have heard the opposite as well, each with equal emphasis. Of course people have liked both or neither as well. It leaves me suspicious of trying to say which works are better than others. Everyone can make up their own mind. I am happy when someone responds to something I’ve made regardless of what it is. I hope you see something you like looking at. Thanks for visiting.